THE DISTRIBUTION OC• OIL distribution of oil may be said to commence at the well. \Vhen the crude oil is raised, either by means of a boiler, which is a cylindrical iron receptacle from 12 to 14 ft. in length, and of less diameter than the bore-hole, and is lowered into the oil, filled and raised again, or by pumping, or if the well is a gusher, it is directed into pipes leading to tanks in which it is stored. From these tanks the crude oil is conveyed to the refinery also by pipe-line. The crude is there split up into its various products, which are stored awaiting distribution.
\Vhen the producing fields are long distances from the shipping port, as in the case of Baku and the Persian fields, overland pipe-lines are laid, usually of larger diameter than those employed on the field. The Russian oil-producing centre possesses a pipe-line about 650 miles in length, which is equipped at intermediate points with powerful Worthington pumps which drive the oil to Batum, the European shipping port of the Black Sea. The Persian oil-fields are tapped by a 600-mile pipe-line by which the petroleum is conveyed to storage tanks on the Persian Gulf. In the case of the Mexican fields the oil products are drawn from the storage tanks, and by means of a pipe-line are carried to the tank steamer lying some distance at sea, the formation of the coast not allowing the vessels to come close into shore. In the United States, the length of pipe-line running from the fields to the collecting centres runs into several thousand miles, and is the most perfect system of pipe-line in the world. This method of transport by pipe-line is the most effective, the simplest, and, in the long run, by far the cheapest. There is, of course, a certain amount of Waste through leakage, but this defect is inherent in practically every form of transport.
From the tanks containing the distilled products the various oils for foreign distribution are loaded into tank steamers and conveyed to tank storages at the ports of destination. For distribution in the country of production railway tank wagons are employed, and for local distribution from local centres the road tank wagon and the water wagon for carrying oils in small quantities are used.
The tank steamer by means of which the petroleum products are conveyed from oil-field ports to foreign markets is one of those nuxlern methods which have contributed very largely to the extended use of oil for various purposes. It has been the means of saving millions of gallons of oil by reducing wastage, and by carrying such large quantities in bulk has reduced the cost of transport and enabled prices to be kept at a reasonable figure. Previous to the adoption of the bulk method of conveying oil from the fields to the importing country, the traffic was carried on by means of barrels and cases, and at the present time a considerable quantity of oil is dispatched to the Far Eastern markets in the latter form of receptacles. An enormous amount of wastage occurred in the use of wooden barrels, and in order to obviate this a steel barrel was introduced, and is now very extensively used. Barrel transport is now, however, almost entirely restricted to the distribution of lubricating oils. It is estimated that approximately 1,500,000 million barrels are in service in this direction.
Since the inception of the tanker its size has been greatly increased. When the Eagle Oil Transport Company laid down its programme it included vessels capable of carrying 10,000 tons of oil as a single cargo, as well as a number of vessels having a dead-weight capacity of 15,000 tons. At that time these were the largest afloat, but this company subsequently launched a tanker having a carrying capacity of over 18,000 tons. Great credit must be given to Sir Marcus Samuel, who initiated this system of oil transport from the Borneo fields to this country, and, in order to obviate the neces sity of sending the " Shell " tankers back empty, a special means of cleansing the oil tanks was devised, which enabled even the most susceptible cargo to be loaded into the tanks.